Thank you. Before you deigned to post here, I hadn't realized that there hadn't been a reply to this topic, and that, therefore, that means there is little interest in it! Again, thanks. I will now take out my rod and chastise myself!

(I mean, geez...)

--Chris

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"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."--Basho

Bushido = having correct attitude when trying to take someone's head off...

I think that overall fightingarts.com does seem to hold relatively little TMA forum interest. And the threads that are about TMA seem to quickly degenerate into an argument about reality and aliveness. Or maybe that's just martial arts in general.

Well, I think this is a part of the forum where hopefully that won't happen. Personally, I like TMA and am very interested in the history and the culture from which it sprang. What I don't like is the general watering down of TMA that has been happening for awhile now.

Going back to the topic NewJitsu, why do you say that Budo is about peace and love? I'm actually interested to hear different takes on it. Perhaps you could fill out your thought a bit?

--Chris

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"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."--Basho

TMA means 'tradional martial art'. Like all terms, it is somewhat arbitrary, but a rough definition might be: "an art that places a high value on preserving the specific techniques, principles, and (sometimes) training methods of a past master, or esteemed group of martial artist's/warriors". Also, often tied to training in TMA is learning the history of the culture that the art developed in, as well as cultural specific protocol, and etiquette, sometimes based on a now passed time period.

Hope that helps.

--Chris

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"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."--Basho

bushido was similar to the code of honor european knight's lived by. basically as i understand it, it was the idea that the greatest think you can do is to give your life over completly to the service of a higher purpose/person. to me it works out like a awsome brainwashing scheme, where by a fat rich guy can stay safe because he has people willing to die to protect him. or it can be a beatiful way to live out a human life, as a picture of honor and respect.

budo, is a newer version of an ethical/moral code to fit todays world. the hagakure describes it as being about the resolute acceptance of death. that since you will die, it is better to live for the zen like moment of now.

im not sure how they can be applied to life today, i'm working it out as i go, i guess. but all the dramatics aside, its a moral code designed to guide behaviour, how usefull it is i don't know, ultimately the samurai were supposed to be "usefull men", in other words good at killing other people on a battle feild.